NASDAQ PLANS TO LAUNCH BITCOIN FUTURES DESPITE THE PRICE COLLAPSE

One of the largest stock exchanges in the world NASDAQ is planning to implement the listing of bitcoin futures, Bloomberg writes. According to the information, the company expects to attract significant interest in its new product, despite the decline in the price of cryptocurrency.

Sources also said that NASDAQ was working to remove doubts of the main the US swap markets regulator – the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The exchange operator, whose plans to launch bitcoin futures became known last year, intends to open its new product for trading in the first quarter of 2019.

In January, Adena Friedman, who currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Nasdaq, said that the company is exploring ways to make its potential product different from the existing futures of competitors. The source said that NASDAQ futures will use as a benchmark spot price from a variety of cryptocurrency exchanges in accordance with the proposal of VanEck Associates Corp.

Last week, it became known that VanEck’s division will use data from three over-the-counter cryptocurrency platforms to launch an index that could be involved in its future bitcoin ETF which is pending approval by the US Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC).